


Death & Decay

by CorpseCally



Series: Spooky kind of Love [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-01
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-27 15:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10028498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorpseCally/pseuds/CorpseCally
Summary: He smelled like flowers, lilies perhaps, with just the faintest hint of musk. It was so serene and familiar that it left Shiro just a touch light on his feet. He left the mall with a dreamy look on his face. All was at peace until a crushing realization coursed through his veins… he never did ask that boy for his name.In other words: A lush AU no asked for I just wanted to make it because reasons





	

The mall just wasn’t really his scene anymore. He was a soon to be 21 year old wandering the mall as if he were still in high school. It didn’t really help that it was the weekend so the place was teaming with teenage mall rats. Weaving his way around clusters of annoying people wasn’t his original plan on how he wanted to spend his Saturday afternoon but here he was doing just that. Still, it wasn’t like he was there just because… he was here with purpose.

 

A new store opened up in the mall about a month back. From what Shiro knew at the time, mainly from hearsay, was that it was some sort bath and skin product based store. If he remembered correctly, he believed it was called _Lush_? Something along those lines. Apparently all the products are handmade which might have interested Shiro for a hot minute before he decided he wasn’t interested enough to actually walk in. He was a pretty habitual kind of guy so the idea of picking out new products to use that were probably overpriced anyway just didn’t sit well with him. He did have to admit that whatever exactly was in there smelled amazing as he passed by.   

 

Today would be the first time he actually walks in, only it wouldn’t really be to browse or even buy anything. There was an employee he had taken interest to. Shiro met him early in the morning soon after the mall had opened the previous week. He needed to return a coat that didn’t quite fit and figured he was better off doing it first thing before work. The store was just a couple doors down from Lush. Just as he was about to walk past he caught a whiff of something, or rather someone. 

 

One of the employees was crouched down in front of a foldable chalkboard sign. They were thankfully too focused on whatever they were writing to notice Shiro standing there being a borderline creep. He wanted to move, really he did, but the scent caressing his nostrils kept his feet glued to the ground. The fragrance was just so familiar that he couldn’t help but breath more of it in. It was rather floral, lilies perhaps, with just a subtle hint of woodsy musk. Shiro let out a content sigh that was a little too loud. The employee was was startled by the sound judging by the slight jump. They turned to look at Shiro with an awkward smile. 

 

Shiro would have returned the gesture or at least done the polite thing and said hello… instead he stared at them in silence. He didn’t know what he was expecting them to look like but he certainly wasn’t expecting someone so breathtaking. Dark hair partially pulled back into a ponytail framed his face and from behind black glasses were blue-grey eyes. What Shiro found slightly odd was how he really liked the nose piercing and lip ring. Usually he wasn’t into that sort of thing but perhaps it just a matter seeing them on the wrong type of people that couldn’t pull it off. 

 

“You uh-... you enjoying the smells?” 

 

Hearing him speak brought Shiro back to his senses. He promptly cleared his throat. “Y-yeah!” It killed him hearing his own voice crack. “Just- taking it all in!” The tips of his ears started to burn. He needed to come up with something before he made things worse. “So… um… what exactly is this place anyway?” It couldn’t hurt to ask. 

 

The Lush employee blinked slowly. “Just like the sign says we sell handmade cosmetics.” He stood up and rubbed the chalk dust on his hands onto his apron. Shiro felt himself sway slightly when the smell of lilies become more pungent. “Soaps, shampoo, face masks, body lotion, perfume… you name it. All cruelty free.” Shiro wondered if he was trained to say that. It may have been his imagination but it sounded just a tad rehearsed. “If you’re interested I can show you some of our products.” 

 

“Oh no, no!” He spoke up little too soon. The employee hadn’t even finish speaking before Shiro was waving a dismissive hand. “Sorry! I didn’t really come here to browse. Just for a quick return and heading off. Busy day and all that!” He could tell the employee wasn’t really buying it. It was just a moment ago Shiro was standing there like a goober just staring. “Actually…” Still, there was one thing that he had to know. “Just what is it that you’re wearing?” 

 

“Clothes for one.” Shiro assumed he made a face since the employee started to laugh. It sounded wonderful. “Relax! I know what you meant. It’s one of the solid perfumes sold here. _Death & Decay_.” He seemed a little too happy to say the name of the product. 

 

“Ah…” For something that smelled so fresh and clean, it had such a morbid name. “That’s- nice?” The smell was. The name? Not so much. 

 

“You don’t really sound that convincing!” He laughed with a bit more mirth. “It’s a deceiving name. I get that. But the idea behind it was… shit what did the description say again?” He cutely scrunched his nose thoughtfully. “Acceptance of inevitable decay without fear? Yeah that’s it.” 

 

Shiro still wasn’t sure how to feel about the name. It still didn’t make much sense to him personally. All he knew was that it smelled fantastic and he wouldn’t mind having that smell follow him all day if he could help it. “I guess the death part makes sense? Lilies are pretty much a funeral flower but decay? Kind of a turn off if you ask me.” 

 

The other shrugged it off with an amused smirk. “Necrophiliacs would beg to differ.” Shiro wasn’t sure if he should laugh or not. He didn’t get the chance to find out since the employee spoke up again. “It’s just a name anyway… doesn’t actually smell like decay so it’s all fine.” 

 

“I suppose…” He trailed off and started to pluck at the plastic bag in his hand. This guy certainly was an interesting case. “I should- I should really get going. It was nice talking with you.” Shiro nearly tripped over his own feet as he took a step back. The quiet laugh coming from the employee made his stomach flip. “I’ll be back! Another day. To shop-” 

 

“Yeah, sure. I’ll try to sell you something next time.” He didn’t move. He simply stood there with his arms folded as he eyed Shiro try to shuffle away. The look he was giving him wasn’t exactly judgemental, maybe it was more of intriguing one than all else. “What’s your name anyway?” The smile on his face when he asked was absolutely criminal. 

 

He cleared his throat. “Uh- Shiro. Just, uh, call me Shiro.” It wasn’t often someone was able to effortlessly reduce Shiro to a nervous pile of goo. He would have praised them for doing so in seconds flat if it wasn’t a tiny bit creepy. 

 

“Alright then. I’ll see you around then, Shiro.” He waved and walked into his respective store, leaving behind the mingling scent of lilies. 

 

“Yeah… see you around.” His felt just a touch light on his feet as he made his way throughout the mall. Shiro felt bad for the person that helped him with his return… he was dazed and aloof making the process unreasonably longer than it should have been. Lucky for him that they were so patient, although clearly off put from his behavior.  He left the mall with a dreamy look on his face. All was at peace until a crushing realization coursed through his veins… he never did ask the boy for his name. 

 

As much he wanted to run back and ask for his name that day, Shiro opted not to make a fool of himself. He resisted the urge to speed off to the mall for as long as he possibly could but four days going onto the fifth was his limit. Now here he was, palm sweaty, standing in front of _Lush_. A few teenage girls would point at him not so subtly and whisper what Shiro could only assume were insults. He couldn’t let them get to him, not today, so he tugged the sleeve over his right hand a little more and stepped through the threshold. There was no going back now. 

 

“Hello and Welcome!” One of the associates chirped from behind the desk. “Is there anything I can help you with?” 

 

“No, just browsing!” He figured looking at some of the products couldn’t hurt while he was here. His eyes drifted to the display of what looked like blue soap balls. When he picked it up he noticed the dashes of yellow, pink, and purple. “It… doesn’t feel like soap?” The sign didn’t exactly say what is was but apparently it was called _Intergalactic_. 

 

“That’s a bath bomb.” 

 

Shiro nearly dropped it when another associate spoke to him. “Oh…” He was pleased when he saw it was the guy he met before. “Hey! It’s you-... um...” 

 

“Keith. You never asked for my name.” In his defense, Shiro was about to. “Is this your first time seeing a bath bomb?” He pointed at the ball in Shiro’s hand. 

 

“I mean I’ve definitely heard of them!” It wasn’t a total lie. He did recall some of his friends talking about them. “Yeah. This is my first time seeing one.” Shiro caved and told the truth. He wasn’t even remotely interested in them so it only made sense that he barely even recognized one right in front of him. 

 

“Well if you have a bathtub you just throw these babies into water and it changes the color.” Keith pointed at the bath bomb in Shiro’s hand. “That one you’re holding is a personal favorite. It’s like you’re bathing in space. You know, assuming space is neon and smelled really minty.” 

 

Shiro gently placed it back. Bath Bombs served him no purpose since he didn’t even own a bathtub. “It’s not last I checked.” He said with a laugh. “I’m gonna have to pass on bathing in space. More of a shower guy anyway…” Shiro hasn’t soaked in a bathtub since he was a kid. 

 

Keith hummed as he looked Shiro up and down. For all he knew it could have been a judgemental look over, but it made Shiro blush faintly nonetheless. “We have shower gels. If you’re interested.” 

 

“Sure?” He really wasn’t that interested. The pack of bar soaps he has back at home was more than enough. Still, if he declined the offer that would mean less time to talk to Keith. Shiro followed him to other side of the store. He nearly bumped into another customer from being weak kneed when he caught a whiff of that perfume Keith wore. Shiro tugs his right sleeve a little more to hide the embarrassment. 

 

“How about this one?” Keith hands him a trial bottle with a pink substance in it. He held it by the top so he could easily read the name written on the label. 

 

Shiro reluctantly took hold of it as he read the name out loud. “ _Prince Charming_?” He was a lot of things but Prince wasn’t one of them. “It’s kind of fruity.” It wasn’t a bad smell. Fruity smells just weren’t for him. Over the years, Shiro found that particular smells on him tend to give him minor migraines that would slowly become worse. So he tended to avoid anything that smelled too sweet or was too strong. Prince Charming wasn’t exactly over powering but he could feel his head start to hurt at the thought of using it. “I’ll pass.” He declined quietly. 

 

“You sure? It’s a limited edition so the bottles we have on the table here is all we have.” Keith seemed set on selling him this particular shower gel. “I can even give to you for less since Valentines is long since over.” 

 

He placed the bottle back and nodded. “Yeah. I’m sure. A little too perfumey for me… besides I’m- not really the princely type anyway!” Shiro forced out a chuckle. 

 

“Maybe but you seem like a nice guy either way.” It was probably a business based complement. If it guaranteed a sale, Shiro assumed Keith would call him handsome or something equally as ridiculous. “Alright. So- nothing too perfumey then.” Keith plucked a creamy yellow shower gel this time. “This one might be a winner. Pretty good for sensitive skin too.”

 

Shiro didn’t bother to read the label as he took a sniff. He expected not to like it but was pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t that bad. He couldn’t quite place what the smell was exactly. “It really just might be a winner.” From off to the side, he could hear a few girls giggling and one was pointing at his hand. He swallowed and read the label to distract him. “ _It’s Raining Men_.” Is that why they were laughing? “Oh thank god…” 

 

“Something wrong?” Keith noticed the mood shift. 

 

“Oh uh-! Nothing just talking to myself!” Shiro handed the bottle back to Keith with an awkward smile. “I’ll leave it for now but I’ll think about it.” His he felt his stomach drop slightly when he noticed Keith glance at the girls looking at them. They were quiet now, probably because they were spotted. 

 

Keith began to chew on his lip ring. He looked as if he wanted to say something but remained quiet as he stared at Shiro. Poor guy was just trying to sell him something and Shiro was being a pain about it. The least he could do was buy something even if he didn’t need it exactly. 

 

“Do you-” He toyed with his bangs trying to figure out what he could ask Keith about. An idea came when Shiro noted how dry his hair felt. “Do you have anything for dry hair!?” He spoke a little too loudly without even meaning to. “Bleaching the fringe white was probably one of the worst ideas I’ve had so far!” That was an over exaggeration. Shiro merely regrets that he decided to do it himself rather than getting it professionally done. 

 

“Nah, a little crispy sure but I think it’s cute.” That wasn’t what he was expecting. “We have a hair treatment that could help with the dryness.” Pink in the face, he followed Keith to another corner of the store. “You’re going to have to prepare it but this is your best bet. Don’t worry. It comes with instructions.” 

 

Shiro expected to be handed a tub of product, not something that looked more like an oversized marshmallow on a stick. He was about to ask what it was even supposed to be but he feared bothering Keith even more with how stubborn with products he’s been. Instead, he merely smiled and thanked him. Part of him wondered if he would actually use it… the fate of this thing was probably doomed to be lost underneath his bathroom sink but Keith didn’t need to know that. 

 

“Is there anything else I can help you with?” The smile he had could have killed him. “If you’re interested I could give you a massage demo?” 

 

“A what?” 

 

Keith laughed. “You don’t have to say yes. The manager just bugs us about not mentioning demos with the massage bars in the back enough.” He pointed towards the back at what Shiro originally thought was plain old bars of soap. 

 

“No demo for me.” A massage demo implies him being touched. That didn’t really sit well with him. He can’t pull his right sleeve down any further. “Thank you though…” Shiro still tried to pull it down more. “I think I’m pretty much done shopping.” 

 

“Okay. I can check you out on the other register.” Keith was already headed towards the sales desk before Shiro could protest. He didn’t complain though. Keith was merely trying to be a good employee, which he is and probably deserves a raise but that might be Shiro’s bias talking. 

 

He started to fish for his wallet in his back pocket. Just as he pulls it out, he spots a display of tiny tins by the register. One of them catches Shiro’s eye in particular. “This is that solid perfume you mentioned.” He opened it up to smell. It didn’t quite smell as good in the tin versus how amazing it did on Keith. 

 

“Yep! Glorious _Death & Decay_.” Keith made note of the mixed expression on Shiro’s face. “It’s all PH based so it might smell better on you than how it does in the tin. Here lemme show you.” Keith reaches for a trial tin and for Shiro’s hand. His right hand. 

 

Shiro nearly jumped back. “No!” The panic in his voice was painfully obvious. “No… It’s fine. I kinda figured.” He tried to play it off but he ended up blabbing. “I mean- it doesn’t smell like the way you do. I probably won’t smell half as good as you do…” The tips of his ears were surely bright red by now. They certainly felt like they were.

 

“Thanks…?” Keith fought back a giggle. “Maybe _Lust_ might be better suited for you then?” He placed it on the sales desk. The label had a woman in black and white on it with Lust in bold red print. 

 

“Sure! I’ll take it.” Shiro didn’t bother to ask about the product out of fear of making a bigger fool of himself. If he ended up hating the scent of it he could always just give it to someone he knew. 

 

Keith silently rung up his things with a faint smile on his lips that made Shiro feel dizzy. He barely even registered what Keith said his total was as he passed him his card. “I like you.” That nearly knocked Shiro flat on his rear end. “I’d like to get to know you if that’s fine with you.” He gave Shiro his receipt with his bag. “I wouldn’t mind seeing you again and not just in the store here.” 

 

“Uh-” Shiro was in disbelief. “Yeah! Absolutely! Definitely.” He signs the store copy receipt. “I’ll call you.” Shiro was just about ready to walk out the store when Keith called out to him. He turns to see Keith snickering. 

 

“You forgot to ask me for my number.”  That was rather pertinent to getting to know someone. “Figured you might. I wrote it on the back of your receipt.”  

 

It was true. On the back of his receipt was a number written in sloppily from rushing. Shiro doesn’t remember even seeing Keith write on the back of it. He was a little occupied staring at that cute smile he had. Shiro didn’t sweat the details. What was more important was the chance of getting somewhere with Keith. He had little hope it would end up anywhere he would like but at the very least… he made a new friend. One that he may or may not be crushing on a little too hard, a little too soon. 

 

“Don’t forget to call me.” 

  
Shiro laughed. “I won’t!” He left the mall in a terribly good mood. Some of the other people in the mall sent him peculiar stares so he could only imagine what kind of dopey face he was making. He couldn’t be bothered by that now. It was impossible to be bothered by it when the scent of lilies and musk were still in his nostrils. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanna work at Lush to be totally honest... it's probably loads more fun than where I currently work but hey, it pays. I have no idea where this idea came from. It just did the moment I bought the Death & Decay perfume. I slapped that shit on me and it hit like a vision. Don't feel compelled to buy it though. Try it on first. Perfumes are PH based so it might not smell as good on one person to the next. 
> 
> This is the first installment to a last minute idea because I hate myself and it forces me to write more. The other installments are going to be pretty miscellaneous. It's just going to be about Shiro and Keith's relationship from day to day. 
> 
> The series name "Spooky kind of Love" has two reasons behind it. The first being because of how I made Keith in this particular work. Basically I took some of my traits but put them in an actually decent person. Keith is going to be very handy, very artsy, really into that spooky kind of scene and unlike me, actually has talent. The other being because of the way Shiro perceives himself. He sees himself as a scary kind of guy because of his appearance so he tends to keep to himself. He will have a few close friends you will see in other works. Shiro wants to be social like he used to be and tries but at times feels like he's really just bothering the person he's talking to. This series is them getting to know each other and them learning about why they are the way they are. And, you know, dating at some point and being super into each other. All that gross coupley stuff I'm a sucker for. 
> 
> Keep mind I'm going to try to make this good here. I'm just a loser that likes to write. Any advice, critiques, or comments you have will be greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Won't say what it's about just to keep you on your toes but the next installment will be "The Hearse Song" Yes that's an actual song. 
> 
> Thank you for reading.


End file.
